Purpose 1: Being economical and effective with description
Economical = don't say things you don't need to say
Effective = what is the goal of what you are trying to say?
Purpose 2: Create a picture in the reader's mind
Use the powers of inference to help readers see the world you have created. A question you could ask is 'what do I want to tell the reader? Now how am I going to show them?
Here is an example:
Example of telling: Lewis was a horribly messy person.
Example of showing: Hey, there's my sandwich!' Lewis exclaimed triumphantly, spying yesterday's meatball sub protruding from the heap of dirty laundry on the backseat of her car.
Language Toolbox
Specific Nouns:
Specific people, places and events are named. For example:
"Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood" rather than "bears in a forest"
b)The large, dirty german shepherd. (use a specific noun to help readers visualise this)
Literary Resources:
Figurative Language - e.g. simile, metaphor, idiom, onomatopoeia
Here is an example:
a) Jane had long messy red hair that she never brushed so it was always untidy. (creative, but verbose)
b) Janes hair was a tangled mess of spaghetti in red tomato sauce (a metaphor)
c) Janes red hair was as messy as a plate of spaghetti (a simile)
Descriptors - e.g. adverbials (words that tell us more about the sentence or the verb) and adjectivals (words that modify the noun or pronoun) give detail to characters, setting,
Be ware of 'purple prose' e.g. the great big huge brown shaggy smelly and naughty dog.
Try to be creative and economical at the same time
Here is an example:
a) The dog put his big muddy wet paws on the white carpet and ran through the house, scattering mud everywhere. (o.k not bad) b) The dog ran across the white shag carpet with slimy mud encrusted paws, leaving a trail of muddy prints
Dialogue and Direct Speech - speech helps bring characters to life
Verbs - tell of happenings and behaviors, including thinking verbs that help express the characters thoughts and emotions
Table of Contents
Purpose 1: Being economical and effective with description
Economical = don't say things you don't need to say
Effective = what is the goal of what you are trying to say?
Purpose 2: Create a picture in the reader's mind
Use the powers of inference to help readers see the world you have created. A question you could ask is 'what do I want to tell the reader? Now how am I going to show them?
Here is an example:
Example of telling: Lewis was a horribly messy person.
Example of showing: Hey, there's my sandwich!' Lewis exclaimed triumphantly, spying yesterday's meatball sub protruding from the heap of dirty laundry on the backseat of her car.
Language Toolbox
Specific Nouns:
Specific people, places and events are named. For example:
"Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood" rather than "bears in a forest"
Here is an example for how to save words:
a)The big, chocolate brown, dirty, smelly, shaggy, messy dog. (too many adjectives)
b)The large, dirty german shepherd. (use a specific noun to help readers visualise this)
Literary Resources:
Figurative Language - e.g. simile, metaphor, idiom, onomatopoeia
Here is an example:
a) Jane had long messy red hair that she never brushed so it was always untidy. (creative, but verbose)
b) Janes hair was a tangled mess of spaghetti in red tomato sauce (a metaphor)
c) Janes red hair was as messy as a plate of spaghetti (a simile)
Descriptors - e.g. adverbials (words that tell us more about the sentence or the verb) and adjectivals (words that modify the noun or pronoun) give detail to characters, setting,
Be ware of 'purple prose' e.g. the great big huge brown shaggy smelly and naughty dog.
Try to be creative and economical at the same time
Here is an example:
a) The dog put his big muddy wet paws on the white carpet and ran through the house, scattering mud everywhere. (o.k not bad)
b) The dog ran across the white shag carpet with slimy mud encrusted paws, leaving a trail of muddy prints
Dialogue and Direct Speech - speech helps bring characters to life
Verbs - tell of happenings and behaviors, including thinking verbs that help express the characters thoughts and emotions
Sentences: